Pages

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Blighted Ovum: Surgically Removed

Last week I was diagnosed with having a blighted ovum. (You can read all about that HERE.) Today I went in to have it removed. If you want to read about it, continue on. If it makes you squeemish, no worries. Just skip this post. Or just ignore the text and scroll through to see some really charming pictures* of me in my glamorous hospital garb. Your choice. :)

*I promise there are no awkward pictures of body parts you wouldn't normally see on my blog. I'm just as covered up in all the other pictures as I am in this picture. Promise.

Okay, here we go...

12:00 am-- No more food or liquid. Period. The end. So much for practically taking a water bottle to bed with me like I usually do. Or, ya know, eating breakfast.

7:00 am-- Wake up and get everything ready that we need to take with us. Toys, blankets, diapers, and snacks for Olivia. Photo ID, insurance card, purse, and HP for me.

8:30 am -- Olivia and I go to my good friend Lacey's house, get all of us loaded up in the car (Lacey, her little girl, Olivia, and me). Drop the girls off at the babysitter's house.

8:45 am -- Go back home real quick to change pants and shoes. It was pouring rain and my pants and shoes were soaked just getting in and out of the car at the babysitter's. Dry pants? Check. Rain boots? Check.

9:15 am -- Check in at the outpatient surgery center. Fill out paper work. Every person possible asks who's driving me home. Every person possible asks when the last time was I ate or drank something.

The entire time -- SO THIRSTY

9:30 am -- Nurse calls me back. Notices my name is Kathleen. Asks if I'm a Kathy or a Kathrine. I'm a Katie. My mom is Kathleen, but she's a Kathy. Nurse's name is Kathy too.

9:32 am -- Okay I'm kind of just making up guessing on the times now. Nurse Kathy starts me on an IV. Whoops. No good. Starts me on an IV on the other arm. Whoops. No good. Calls for back-up. Sheila turned out to be the IV hero. Thanks, Sheila.

9:40 am -- They let Lacey come back. We take pictures. The nurses keep giving us funny looks because we're laughing so much. You know, talking about awkward things like the worst haircuts we've ever had and why. Oh, perpetual third grade head lice and roller brushes. Hahahahaha.

Here I am pretending to be conked out and really sickly. If you look at the picture just right it kind of looks like I put my hair into some cute little braid with a big bow on the end. Either that's true or it's the bow from my rockin' hospital gown. One or the other.

Also, try not to be too jealous of my totally gorgeous hair net. I'm kind of a vision in a hair net. I told Lacey not to be jealous, too, but she couldn't help it.

10:00 am -- The older, crankier anesthesiologist comes to check up on me. Asks how breakfast was. "Non-existent," I say. "Right answer," he replies. Goes over my entire medical history. Is the fifth person to ask me what happens if I take septra. Is the fifth person to think I'm crazy for not knowing what happens if I take septra. (I'm just allergic to it, okay? Back off.)

Cranky anesthesiologist tells me they'll give me some "soothing" drugs through my IV. Then an oxygen mask. Then they'll stick a plastic tube thing down my throat and give me the rest of the anesthesia through that. Then they'll take it out before I ever know, but I'll probably have a sore throat for a few days and that's why.

Note: He was totally right about the sore throat. It's not bad. But it's there. Ol' Cranky knows his stuff.

Then Cranky asks me if I have any questions. I ask him if there's any way I'm gonna get a glass of water any time soon. He says no.

10:05 am-- Young, happy-go-lucky anesthesiologist with the same last name as Cranky comes and asks if anyone from anesthesia has come to check on me yet. I say yes. He asks if it was the old cranky guy. I say yes. He asks if Cranky was mean to me. I tell him he wouldn't let me have water. Young guy laughs and leaves.

After surgery -- (No idea what time it is.) Wake up to this lovely lady. Except I'm way too tired to even open my eyes yet.

Me in my post-surgery burrito state. The photo has a pinkish hue because I'm under a heat lamp too, to keep me warm. I was perfectly cozy. The nurse and Lacey were commenting (and not very discreetly, either) about how hot it was in there. Whatevs. My surgery, my heat lamp. Back off.

Kind of I was pretending to be funny by making this face. But kind of I was still too tired to open my eyes yet.

Waking up --

Nurse: It's okay, Katie. You can wake up now.Me: No! Just put me back to sleep!

I was absolutely crazy and loopy when they started waking me up. Apparently I was making everybody hold my hand (the nurse, the doctor, Lacey). And I vaguely remember sobbing uncontrollably. Other than when I was saying really depressing things, the nurse (and Lacey) thought I was really funny. They didn't even really try to stifle their laughter. But, then, neither would I.

Whilst doing a really awkward loud cry (you know, the kind you only do when you're really, uncontrollably upset)...

Me: I never want to be pregnant again and I hate babies!

Nurse (to Lacey): Does she really hate babies?Lacey (to Nurse): No.

Me: I only like toddlers!Lacey: Okay, next time you have a baby you can drop it off at my house and I'll bring it back when it's a toddler.Me: Okay.Nurse: (Asks me something about kids)Lacey: (Tells her about Olivia.)Me: It's "Lala."Nurse: That's cute.

Then Lacey found pictures of Olivia on the camera and showed them to the nurse. Even though it was a really terrible picture the nurse said she was really cute. I think they were all a little worried about me after I was crying so loud. Hahaha. After this the nurse pulled out her phone and showed me pictures of her dog. I think I said something really charming like, "I don't like dogs, but your dog is cute."

My filter was kind of off.

...Heh heh :)

That's okay. The nurse and I were BFF anyway. As you can see.

12:30 pm -- BFF nurse goes to lunch. I finally get up and get dressed. Sheila (the IV hero) comes back to take care of me. She takes me for a ride in a wheelchair. Kind of my dream come true. First stop: bathroom. Second stop: Lacey's car.

On the way home we stopped by the pharmacy to get my prescriptions. We also stopped by the babysitter's house and picked up Lacey's little girl. Olivia got to stay and play until Daddy came home. :)

Status at this point: tired, but still feelin' good.

3:15 pm -- Lacey gives me my first dose of all my different medications. I really couldn't tell you what I'm on right now. I have no idea. All I know is that my regular pain killer pills are laced with something. Which is cool. I like saying, "Yeah, it's laced with something." Makes me feel hard core.

6: 48 pm -- This is right now while I'm writing this. I'm only supposed to take my pain killers every 4 to 6 hours. I'm not really in pain, but I am starting to be able to feel things in my abdomen (I guess it's probably my uterus, really). I'll be ready for the next round of pain killers when I can take them in about a half hour.

All in all -- Today was anything but traumatic. I hope, if this is something you're going to be experiencing soon, you'll notice that never in here did I say, "Gah! This is so painful! Worst experience of my life!" or anything of the sort. It wasn't bad at all.

Truly, the worst part was having to be poked three different times for my IV. Which had nothing to do with the surgery and everything to do with plain old bad luck. And the fact that, let's face it, I was probably dehydrated since I hadn't had anything to drink since midnight.

Or maybe the worst part was having to wake up. I would have been perfectly happy to just keep sleeping there in those cozy blankets under the heat lamp all day long. :)

Don't be fooled by the chronological order of the rest of the photos. This one is definitely from before the surgery. But I had to add another picture in here. There was just too much text. Visually just so boring boring boring. Blame it on the blogger in me.

Other stuff -- There are a couple things about today that I haven't mentioned yet, so I'll go over them now.

1. Bleeding -- Since waking up from surgery, I've had some bleeding. It's not bad. It's kind of like a light to moderate period. Nothing intense. Basically I've just had a regular pad and it's been fine. They said I'd have bleeding/spotting for the next few days. No biggie.

2. It does not hurt to walk -- Just in case you're curious (I was), it doesn't hurt to walk. Even now while I'm feeling some pressure (not even really cramping, which they said I'd probably have, it's just a general pressure in my uterus region), I can still get up and walk around just fine. This is a major plus because I've had to go to the bathroom a lot. Probably because my body's trying to make up for lost time on all the liquids I missed out on this morning.

3. I'm kind of pale -- I'm looking a little on the pale side right now. So if you're going in to have this procedure done, I wouldn't plan on having family pictures taken later that day. Unless it's Adam's Family pictures. In which case you'd probably look pretty awesome.

4. I already feel a lot better -- I already feel SO much better. While I am (currently at this moment) starting to feel some wacky stuff going on in my abdomen/uterus, it is 100% better than what I had been going through all week previous to this. I am so, so glad I decided to go ahead and have the pregnancy removed right away instead of waiting. I'm not saying this is what will be right for everybody, but it was a good choice for me.

5. I'm already more normal about food -- I still don't have a big appetite (yet), but it's already a lot more normal than it had been before the pregnancy was removed. It is such a blessing to not have every single piece of food offered to me sound really disgusting.

6. Sex -- No sex for 4 weeks. Doctor's orders.

7. My arm hurts -- My right arm hurts a little where they put the IV in. Or, more likely, it hurts where nurse Kathy tried to put the IV in. They told me right after it happened that it was already bruising. This is probably the most pain I'm experiencing anywhere on my body. And, by the way, I mean that as a good thing. Because it doesn't really hurt much at all.

8. Babies -- I really do not hate babies. Although it is true that I enjoy toddlers more. Babies are cute and cuddly, but toddlers are cute and fun. :)

Still, in all seriousness, if you're pregnant, just recently had a baby, or just like babies in general, I'm not one of those baby haters that will get all upset if you talk about it in front of me. I am totally okay with babies.

(Although I do understand why a lot of women who have miscarriages are sensitive about pregnancy and babies for a long time. It's a real sadness for some people and I don't mean to make light of that. I really don't.)

However, I am not above admitting that I do still feel a twinge of lingering sadness whenever I remember that "Oh yeah, I'm not having a baby in August," and "Oh yeah, we're not going to be picking out a name for the baby. There is no baby."

Still, that lingering sadness does not = me being a baby hater. (Though I think Lacey and the nurse would tell you otherwise. Haha.)

The end

Anyway, that's how today went. I'm home, back on the ol' couch resting up, and feeling pretty good. Now it's time for my 7:00 pm dose of pain meds. Bring it on.

...

Edited to add: You can read HERE about how I'm feeling the morning after surgery.

17 comments:

What a great post katie! So glad you are feeling better. I LOVED the so thirsty comment. Even though the situation sucks, you've handled it beautifully and this post was funny and genuine! We love and miss you!

So glad you are feeling better and took time to give us an update! I like this post more than I probably should. Your experience was very similar to mine - the worst part for me was the IV too! Your account of the waking up part is awesome!

I love your honesty and humor on what can be a touchy subject manner! I know this is going to help someone!

You are so funny! I love your BFF pictures. I am so glad you are done and it wasn't bad. I haven't commented on your other posts, but I am so impressed with your attitude. I would have bawled my eyes out in the ultrasound room. You're so strong! Hope recovery goes well! You rock!

I am so impressed with how positive you are being about all this. I am not going through anything like it, but I read every bit because it gave me an attitude adjustment about life in general. You're inspiring. Good Luck on the mend :)

Katie this post was super well written and FUNNY. Also, it is nice to hear(read) your voice with happiness in it. Mostly though this cracked me UP.Soapy is sleeping about three feet away from me and I had to consciously make myself not laugh so as not to wake her up. You should have tons more surgeries if you are going to be so funny about it.

Oh Katie, I can totally picture you and Lacey in there. I can picture Lacey in her sweet, nurse like self and you coming out of surgery. That's funny. Well, kinda, funny for us to read about anyway ;). Thanks for exposing me to the paparazzi, they have been knocking on my door all morning. I'm pretty much famous now, thanks to you :)!

I found your story on Pinterest and have read it several times already. I had the surgery today.... it's been a long two weeks, but I'm happy to be on the road to healing! Thanks for being so candid and sharing your story! I seriously considered the drug (cytotec) but am really happy with my decision to just do the surgery and get it over with. The emotional pain is enough... I think skipping the physical pain seemed like a good plan :) Anyway, I feel like we could talk for hours, given the chance, but just wanted to say "thanks" and God bless your family!

I have to get this surgery done nest next. After reading this article I feel much more at ease. Thank you so much for posting this. I honestly admire your strength. You have giving me some too! Thank you again. I don't even know you but I would like to tell you you are an amazing person.